CRZ.net [slash] Wrestling [slash] Guests [slash] Gillon

1) This first point might seem trivial to some people, but bear with me. Over at Wrestleline, their Nitro recapper Galatea, he of Wrestleline and WOW magazine, stated that at the end of last week's Steven Regal (all hail him, for he is good) and Mikey Whipwreck match, Regal apparently, and I quote, "finally broke the hold and draped the English flag over Mikey's body in a post match celebration. The English are just so rude. " Can I just point out that Regal didn't drape the English flag over poor Mikey, but actually used the BRITISH flag, the Union Jack (even the Nitro commentary team knew this). The ENGLISH flag is the St George's Cross, a red cross on a white background. Being Scottish, I was pretty pissed at Galatea as my country's flag is part of the Union Jack, so it is not the English flag. Just imagine somebody writing that the Stars and Stripes was the Canadian flag, or the Canadian flag was that of the US, and you'll get some idea of how serious this matter is. The revolution begins here.

2) CR Wilson. Angry young man, very angry young man. Wilson is a self-confessed WWF mark, and yet blasts off on Mike Franck for his bias towards WCW!!! And I'm apparently a poser as well. That's a new one on me, though I don't know in what context he means it, I can't understand what he's on about at the best of times. Explain yourself at once Wilson.

Right, I feel better after that. Now on with this week's column. Once again, thanks for the e-mails I've received, amongst which was another one from my fellow Scot Richard, he of the four years worth of Raw videos. I hope CRZ's paying attention here as Richard says that Slash is "RAPIDLY becoming one of my FAVOURITE smart, pro-wrestling sites on the 'net". Richard's mail obviously came through incomplete though as the part about this column being the best thing about Slash seemed to be missed out for some reason. Probably my ISP's connection at fault somewhere.

WCW: You know what really, really scares me. That somewhere in the depths of WCW, somebody actually believes that the stuff served up on Nitro every week will actually have those ratings going high, high, high and they'll soon have those WWF types back down in the gutter. Two weeks ago they had a start, they'd produced a show which had gone down well with the majority of fans, and at last had something to build on after all these months. So, what the hell has happened since???

It's a general feeling that one of the big improvements was having Scott Hudson replace Tony Schiavone. You would think that they would give the new team of Hudson and Heenan a chance, see if they really do make that much of a difference. You would think that wouldn't you, it makes sense. Well, this is WCW remember. Last week we had to endure the rantings of Jason Hervey and his insane over-the-top cackling, while this week Hudson didn't even make it to the end of the show before he was put out of action by Rick Steiner (more on him later). Then, to make matters worse Bischoff and, later on, ego-head Hogan took his place. I wouldn't be the least surprised if Hudson's 'injury' is just an excuse to bring Schiavone back next week, but I hope I'm wrong. As a postscript to this, I wish the announcers would stop calling Mikey Whipwreck such things as "sheepdip" etc. He's a former ECW champ, show some respect....and let him get some wins!!!!!!

Sting is back, he's back in black, and he is the new President of WCW. So, why the hell is David 'hear me roar' Flair still the US champ? The point has been made elsewhere, but if Sting is really in charge why was the Flair-Benoit match from last week officiated by Charles Robinson? I know it's all a story etc, but it's little things like this that really grate, and have people shaking their heads at WCW's sheer ineptitude. Talking of Flair, his interview segment with Mean "get me out of here" Gene was just plain embarrassing. I could just see into Flair's thoughts...."Right, what was I meant to say now?? Oh yeah........right they told me to just ignore what Gene asks me and stick with the script, so this time it's.....wait a minute Gene, hey baby, how's the champ looking tonight?" If they insist on sticking with the David Flair angle, then at least have him give half-decent interviews. I know the whole thing is for him to be impersonating his dad, but this is just really bad, and isn't going to have viewers switching to Nitro.

Are WCW still insisting that their product is purely family orientated, not like that programme from hell on the other side? If so, can somebody please explain Savage's angle to me? Apart from Savage's show of domestic violence a few weeks back, we've basically had rape brought into the equation a couple of times as well, both times when Gorgeous George has been 'kidnapped'. Firstly by Nash remember, when Nash's hinted at behaviour was somehow glossed over by the huge fuss made at the time about Savage attacking George, and the last couple of weeks by Dennis Rodman. Now, I have to say that personally I hate the Savage angle even more than the David Flair and, believe it or not, Konnan stuff. It just seems, I don't know, unhealthy. Is it just me who sees it that way as nobody else seems to mention it?

You may have heard a couple of rumours doing the rounds during the last week or so that I'd like to mention (these might have been the work of the rogue rumourmongers which have been mentioned on some sites). Firstly, and this was mentioned by CRZ last week, apparently Shane Douglas is aiming to get a match with Ric Flair and then do a shoot, with his hand-shaking friendliness with Flair all a front. If this is true, and at the moment it's a big if, it will be a shame. Not just for Flair, as he's been shafted by WCW a hell of a lot recently, but also for Douglas himself. Sure, Douglas has a history of similar stuff and his 'aura' is based on his unpredictability a great deal, but this could turn plain nasty, and I hope it doesn't happen. Flair deserves better. Secondly, WCW are supposedly in the market for Rob Van Dam. If true, I just can't see it happening. Van Dam is a star in ECW, and a great favourite with many, and will more than likely just be buried along with most others if he went to WCW. Besides, he's got a great deal of control over his character in ECW, something which he'd be denied in WCW also.

If the rumours that Bischoff wants to reform the NWO are true, I just plain give up on WCW. Jeez, this was the angle which dragged on for so long that it started the WCW decline, and yet apparently they now want to revive it again, obviously under the impression that this is what is need to get them back on top again? Next thing you know they'll be reviving the fake Sting again....hang on, they've just done that too. Well, at least after the Megadeth fiasco they'll be careful about having more musical turns on in the near future. Hmmmmmm. Well, the good thing about the upcoming Kiss appearance is that it'll introduce a fantastic new angle that will enable them to bring in an exciting new talent, and not to repackage some has-been that nobody cares about like Brian Adams. Even WCW couldn't do something like that......could they???????

As I write this on the evening of Tuesday 3rd August (my sister's birthday and guess who forgot) there are only six days to go until the end of the Millennium countdown on Raw. What is the significance? Let's be honest, it has to be the first appearance of Chris Jericho, who's been the subject of a couple of rumours this week.

1) The first was that some people had come under the impression that Jericho's first appearance wouldn't be until the beginning of September. Well, maybe he won't wrestle until then, but he should make his debut appearance this Monday, and I can't wait.

2) Secondly, somebody put out that WCW held the rights to the name Jericho, and that Chris would either have to use his real name of Irvine or would change his name to Gericho (making some people think that he would be behind the GTV segment). Now I (being a regular visitor to Jericho's site), along with probably many others, read that Chris held the rights to his own name when he first talked about his move to the WWF, so I took this with a pinch of salt, and Chris has since reconfirmed that he owns the rights to the Chris Jericho name, done and dusted.

3) The word going around the web is that Chris will make his wrestling debut at Summerslam against Road Dogg, to be confirmed. If true, this gives some ideas about his initial angle. Obviously, with Road Dogg being a face at the moment, this suggests that Jericho will enter as a heel, which is what he does best. But some questions still need to be answered, for example why Road Dogg? Will he be feuding with DX as a whole? I think this will be a sensible entry for Jericho, although those who hoped that he would enter the WWF and immediately take the title >from Austin will be disappointed (come on, that was never realistic...it's not Hogan we're talking about here thankfully).

So, what does the future hold for the WWF and Chris Jericho? Well, Chris is in the best place for his talents to be used to their best effect. The WWF knows how to work angles for the most part, and haven't got any prima donnas in their ranks, a la Hogan, Savage, Bagwell, Nash, so he does have a good opportunity to reach the heights that his potential hints at. Whatever happens, it'll be a whole lot of fun finding out.

Another angle nearing it's conclusion is the GTV segment. Apparently, Dave Meltzer is saying that the person behind it will turn out to be Terri Runnels. How this is going to be worked, well your guess is as good as mine, but again it's a good example of how the WWF can get good stories going for the most unlikely of people (if it does turn out to be Terri that is). Seemingly everybody had been mentioned as the mysterious person behind GTV...HHH, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, Vic Grimes, Goldust (yes even after leaving the WWF) but nobody had mentioned Terri as far as I know. Should be an interesting one to see where they go with this.

Talking about angles, I have to say that I don't like the current one involving Shane and Stephanie McMahon, Test and the Posse. For a start, has it ever been properly explained why Rodney and Pete Gass are still in the WWF after they lost a 'loser leaves the WWF' match against Patterson and Briscoe? Where are Patterson and Briscoe anyway? Did I have a bad day and just imagine that Patterson and Briscoe beat the Posse? Apart from the Posse poser, better use could be made of Shane McMahon as a heel than is being done at the moment. Shane can be far more than the over-protective brother that he is being portrayed as at the moment. When he was in control of the Corporate Ministry, Shane really came into his own and came over as a real evil bad-ass. Now, he just seems silly and vindictive, and I think is going to waste. I know they're trying to push Test, but surely something better can be done than this? Saying that, Stephanie is rather nice, so any angle which has her on Raw regularly has to have something going for it.

Glad to see that Jeff Jarrett got turned over by D'Lo for the Intercontinental Title this week. Have to say I've never really been that keen on Jarrett since his country music Double-J days in his previous WWF run. I can't stand country music for a start which didn't help, and the WWF were doing the same mistakes as WCW are currently doing, ie. producing crappy songs and music videos and not putting enough emphasis on the actual wrestling. Now, I was pleased that Jarrett got a title after the Owen Hart tragedy, but when Debra and her belongings are more over than Jarrett himself, then something had gone wrong. While it's understandable about Debra, Jarrett has never had the persona to get really over with the wrestling fans which hasn't helped. Saying that, I'm pleasantly surprised that D'Lo got the title win. I like D'Lo, mainly because he's one of the few to have really shown himself to be proud to be the European title holder. Besides, he can be really entertaining as well, and I'll always remember his chauffeur skit with Mark Henry when Henry went on the date with Chyna, in my mind still one of the funniest angles in the last year or two.

The Steiners never really did anything for me. Sure, they could wrestle, but Scott didn't have any personality and Rick just ran around behaving like a dog for some reason. They were a good tag team granted, but they were there, not really grabbing your attention like they could do. Then came the NWO, and Scott Steiner turned on his brother and developed a nasty streak...and that was just in his beard!!!! Scott I grew to like. I liked his pre-match spiel (holler if ya hear me!!!) and I liked his double act with Buff. Rick though stayed the same, and to make matters worse, teamed with Judy Bagwell in one of the worst angles in recent memory, even for WCW. Then, not before time, Rick strayed to the dark side as well, although his personality still hadn't arrived in the post. He was given the TV title, and a lengthy run which was completely undeserved in the David Flair sort of mould. But then, last week on Nitro, everything that had gone in the past was forgiven in my eyes. Want to know why?

Take yourself back to the climax of the main event (you remember, those mystery partners, cough cough). Nash has just pinned Hogan and Goldberg has rushed the ring, and Rick has just welcomed him with a chair shot to the head. Now, at this point in the past, when others have given Goldberg a head shot with a chair, Goldberg has brushed it off with a quick shake and his assailant has been speared and jack-knifed without any more trouble. But not our Steiner. Rick has proceeded to use his brain and continued to chair Goldberg on the back of the legs to bring him down and then another shot to the back, laying him out totally. Hopefully he plans to do the same to Hogan after this week's Nitro happenings.

Well, that's it for this week. Once again thanks to CRZ for continuing to put me on his site, and thanks to you all for taking the trouble to have a look at my thoughts. Please feel free to mail me at the link below with any comments or suggestions you care to make, about wrestling, WWF, WCW or even CR Wilson, I'll be only too pleased to read them.

Main BLAH	FROM THE BRIT SIDE Thought for the week....It's strange, isn't it. You stand in the middle of a library and go 'Aaaaaaagghhhh' and everyone just stares at you. But you do the same thing on an aeroplane, and everyone joins in. Before I begin this week's column proper, there's a couple of things I have to get off my chest. 1) This first point might seem trivial to some people, but bear with me. Over at Wrestleline, their Nitro recapper Galatea, he of Wrestleline and WOW magazine, stated that at the end of last week's Steven Regal (all hail him, for he is good) and Mikey Whipwreck match, Regal apparently, and I quote, "*finally broke the hold and draped the English flag over Mikey's body in a post match celebration. The English are just so rude.* " Can I just point out that Regal didn't drape the English flag over poor Mikey, but actually used the BRITISH flag, the Union Jack (even the Nitro commentary team knew this). The ENGLISH flag is the St George's Cross, a red cross on a white background. Being Scottish, I was pretty pissed at Galatea as my country's flag is part of the Union Jack, so it is not the English flag. Just imagine somebody writing that the Stars and Stripes was the Canadian flag, or the Canadian flag was that of the US, and you'll get some idea of how serious this matter is. The revolution begins here. 2) CR Wilson. Angry young man, very angry young man. Wilson is a self-confessed WWF mark, and yet blasts off on Mike Franck for his bias towards WCW!!! And I'm apparently a poser as well. That's a new one on me, though I don't know in what context he means it, I can't understand what he's on about at the best of times. Explain yourself at once Wilson. Right, I feel better after that. Now on with this week's column. Once again, thanks for the e-mails I've received, amongst which was another one from my fellow Scot Richard, he of the four years worth of Raw videos. I hope CRZ's paying attention here as Richard says that Slash is "*RAPIDLY becoming one of my FAVOURITE smart, pro-wrestling sites on the 'net". Richard's mail obviously came through incomplete though as the part about this column being the best thing about Slash seemed to be missed out for some reason. Probably my ISP's connection at fault somewhere. On with the wrestling..... WCW:* You know what really, really scares me. That somewhere in the depths of WCW, somebody actually believes that the stuff served up on Nitro every week will actually have those ratings going high, high, high and they'll soon have those WWF types back down in the gutter. Two weeks ago they had a start, they'd produced a show which had gone down well with the majority of fans, and at last had something to build on after all these months. So, what the hell has happened since??? It's a general feeling that one of the big improvements was having Scott Hudson replace Tony Schiavone. You would think that they would give the new team of Hudson and Heenan a chance, see if they really do make that much of a difference. You would think that wouldn't you, it makes sense. Well, this is WCW remember. Last week we had to endure the rantings of Jason Hervey and his insane over-the-top cackling, while this week Hudson didn't even make it to the end of the show before he was put out of action by Rick Steiner (more on him later). Then, to make matters worse Bischoff and, later on, ego-head Hogan took his place. I wouldn't be the least surprised if Hudson's 'injury' is just an excuse to bring Schiavone back next week, but I hope I'm wrong. As a postscript to this, I wish the announcers would stop calling Mikey Whipwreck such things as "sheepdip" etc. He's a former ECW champ, show some respect....and let him get some wins!!!!!! Sting is back, he's back in black, and he is the new President of WCW. So, why the hell is David 'hear me roar' Flair still the US champ? The point has been made elsewhere, but if Sting is really in charge why was the Flair-Benoit match from last week officiated by Charles Robinson? I know it's all a story etc, but it's little things like this that really grate, and have people shaking their heads at WCW's sheer ineptitude. Talking of Flair, his interview segment with Mean "get me out of here" Gene was just plain embarrassing. I could just see into Flair's thoughts...."Right, what was I meant to say now?? Oh yeah........right they told me to just ignore what Gene asks me and stick with the script, so this time it's.....wait a minute Gene, hey baby, how's the champ looking tonight?" If they insist on sticking with the David Flair angle, then at least have him give half-decent interviews. I know the whole thing is for him to be impersonating his dad, but this is just really bad, and isn't going to have viewers switching to Nitro. Are WCW still insisting that their product is purely family orientated, not like that programme from hell on the other side? If so, can somebody please explain Savage's angle to me? Apart from Savage's show of domestic violence a few weeks back, we've basically had rape brought into the equation a couple of times as well, both times when Gorgeous George has been 'kidnapped'. Firstly by Nash remember, when Nash's hinted at behaviour was somehow glossed over by the huge fuss made at the time about Savage attacking George, and the last couple of weeks by Dennis Rodman. Now, I have to say that personally I hate the Savage angle even more than the David Flair and, believe it or not, Konnan stuff. It just seems, I don't know, unhealthy. Is it just me who sees it that way as nobody else seems to mention it? You may have heard a couple of rumours doing the rounds during the last week or so that I'd like to mention (these might have been the work of the rogue rumourmongers which have been mentioned on some sites). Firstly, and this was mentioned by CRZ last week, apparently Shane Douglas is aiming to get a match with Ric Flair and then do a shoot, with his hand-shaking friendliness with Flair all a front. If this is true, and at the moment it's a big if, it will be a shame. Not just for Flair, as he's been shafted by WCW a hell of a lot recently, but also for Douglas himself. Sure, Douglas has a history of similar stuff and his 'aura' is based on his unpredictability a great deal, but this could turn plain nasty, and I hope it doesn't happen. Flair deserves better. Secondly, WCW are supposedly in the market for Rob Van Dam. If true, I just can't see it happening. Van Dam is a star in ECW, and a great favourite with many, and will more than likely just be buried along with most others if he went to WCW. Besides, he's got a great deal of control over his character in ECW, something which he'd be denied in WCW also. If the rumours that Bischoff wants to reform the NWO are true, I just plain give up on WCW. Jeez, this was the angle which dragged on for so long that it started the WCW decline, and yet apparently they now want to revive it again, obviously under the impression that this is what is need to get them back on top again? Next thing you know they'll be reviving the fake Sting again....hang on, they've just done that too. Well, at least after the Megadeth fiasco they'll be careful about having more musical turns on in the near future. Hmmmmmm. Well, the good thing about the upcoming Kiss appearance is that it'll introduce a fantastic new angle that will enable them to bring in an exciting new talent, and not to repackage some has-been that nobody cares about like Brian Adams. Even WCW couldn't do something like that......could they??????? Where was Steve Regal this week??????? WWF: Whilst WCW continues to self-destruct the WWF carries on it's merry way, without Vince of course. It's an interesting time in Titanland just now, with some intriguing angles nearing their payoff. As I write this on the evening of Tuesday 3rd August (my sister's birthday and guess who forgot) there are only six days to go until the end of the Millennium countdown on Raw. What is the significance? Let's be honest, it has to be the first appearance of Chris Jericho, who's been the subject of a couple of rumours this week. 1) The first was that some people had come under the impression that Jericho's first appearance wouldn't be until the beginning of September. Well, maybe he won't wrestle until then, but he should make his debut appearance this Monday, and I can't wait. 2) Secondly, somebody put out that WCW held the rights to the name Jericho, and that Chris would either have to use his real name of Irvine or would change his name to Gericho (making some people think that he would be behind the GTV segment). Now I (being a regular visitor to Jericho's site), along with probably many others, read that Chris held the rights to his own name when he first talked about his move to the WWF, so I took this with a pinch of salt, and Chris has since reconfirmed that he owns the rights to the Chris Jericho name, done and dusted. 3) The word going around the web is that Chris will make his wrestling debut at Summerslam against Road Dogg, to be confirmed. If true, this gives some ideas about his initial angle. Obviously, with Road Dogg being a face at the moment, this suggests that Jericho will enter as a heel, which is what he does best. But some questions still need to be answered, for example why Road Dogg? Will he be feuding with DX as a whole? I think this will be a sensible entry for Jericho, although those who hoped that he would enter the WWF and immediately take the title >from Austin will be disappointed (come on, that was never realistic...it's not Hogan we're talking about here thankfully). So, what does the future hold for the WWF and Chris Jericho? Well, Chris is in the best place for his talents to be used to their best effect. The WWF knows how to work angles for the most part, and haven't got any prima donnas in their ranks, a la Hogan, Savage, Bagwell, Nash, so he does have a good opportunity to reach the heights that his potential hints at. Whatever happens, it'll be a whole lot of fun finding out. Another angle nearing it's conclusion is the GTV segment. Apparently, Dave Meltzer is saying that the person behind it will turn out to be Terri Runnels. How this is going to be worked, well your guess is as good as mine, but again it's a good example of how the WWF can get good stories going for the most unlikely of people (if it does turn out to be Terri that is). Seemingly everybody had been mentioned as the mysterious person behind GTV...HHH, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, Vic Grimes, Goldust (yes even after leaving the WWF) but nobody had mentioned Terri as far as I know. Should be an interesting one to see where they go with this. Talking about angles, I have to say that I don't like the current one involving Shane and Stephanie McMahon, Test and the Posse. For a start, has it ever been properly explained why Rodney and Pete Gass are still in the WWF after they lost a 'loser leaves the WWF' match against Patterson and Briscoe? Where are Patterson and Briscoe anyway? Did I have a bad day and just imagine that Patterson and Briscoe beat the Posse? Apart from the Posse poser, better use could be made of Shane McMahon as a heel than is being done at the moment. Shane can be far more than the over-protective brother that he is being portrayed as at the moment. When he was in control of the Corporate Ministry, Shane really came into his own and came over as a real evil bad-ass. Now, he just seems silly and vindictive, and I think is going to waste. I know they're trying to push Test, but surely something better can be done than this? Saying that, Stephanie is rather nice, so any angle which has her on Raw regularly has to have something going for it. Glad to see that Jeff Jarrett got turned over by D'Lo for the Intercontinental Title this week. Have to say I've never really been that keen on Jarrett since his country music Double-J days in his previous WWF run. I can't stand country music for a start which didn't help, and the WWF were doing the same mistakes as WCW are currently doing, ie. producing crappy songs and music videos and not putting enough emphasis on the actual wrestling. Now, I was pleased that Jarrett got a title after the Owen Hart tragedy, but when Debra and her belongings are more over than Jarrett himself, then something had gone wrong. While it's understandable about Debra, Jarrett has never had the persona to get really over with the wrestling fans which hasn't helped. Saying that, I'm pleasantly surprised that D'Lo got the title win. I like D'Lo, mainly because he's one of the few to have really shown himself to be proud to be the European title holder. Besides, he can be really entertaining as well, and I'll always remember his chauffeur skit with Mark Henry when Henry went on the date with Chyna, in my mind still one of the funniest angles in the last year or two. Who won the title match at the end of Raw this week? If it was a No Holds Barred match, surely that means somebody must be a winner? This question must be answered. Time for this week's closing subject. It's a strange one this time because up until I saw last week's shows, I just could never see the appeal in this wrestler, but I saw the light. Let me explain in the following.... RICK STEINER - FROM LITTLE YAPPY DOG TO PIT BULL The Steiners never really did anything for me. Sure, they could wrestle, but Scott didn't have any personality and Rick just ran around behaving like a dog for some reason. They were a good tag team granted, but they were there, not really grabbing your attention like they could do. Then came the NWO, and Scott Steiner turned on his brother and developed a nasty streak...and that was just in his beard!!!! Scott I grew to like. I liked his pre-match spiel (holler if ya hear me!!!) and I liked his double act with Buff. Rick though stayed the same, and to make matters worse, teamed with Judy Bagwell in one of the worst angles in recent memory, even for WCW. Then, not before time, Rick strayed to the dark side as well, although his personality still hadn't arrived in the post. He was given the TV title, and a lengthy run which was completely undeserved in the David Flair sort of mould. But then, last week on Nitro, everything that had gone in the past was forgiven in my eyes. Want to know why? Take yourself back to the climax of the main event (you remember, those mystery partners, cough cough). Nash has just pinned Hogan and Goldberg has rushed the ring, and Rick has just welcomed him with a chair shot to the head. Now, at this point in the past, when others have given Goldberg a head shot with a chair, Goldberg has brushed it off with a quick shake and his assailant has been speared and jack-knifed without any more trouble. But not our Steiner. Rick has proceeded to use his brain and continued to chair Goldberg on the back of the legs to bring him down and then another shot to the back, laying him out totally. Hopefully he plans to do the same to Hogan after this week's Nitro happenings. So, Rick Steiner, for actually doing to Goldberg what should have been done ages ago by anybody with the brains to do it, I salute you. Well, that's it for this week. Once again thanks to CRZ for continuing to put me on his site, and thanks to you all for taking the trouble to have a look at my thoughts. Please feel free to mail me at the link below with any comments or suggestions you care to make, about wrestling, WWF, WCW or even CR Wilson, I'll be only too pleased to read them. Until next time, take care of yourselves and I'll hopefully see you soon. I'm off to try and make up with my sister and buy her an extra big present. Irony of the week: This week's spellchecker throws up that Briscoe can be changed to brisk. Bill Gillon [slash] wrestling Mail the Author	BLAH
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